Romeo Redeemed

Romeo Redeemed by Stacey Jay
4/5 stars
Delacorte Press, 2012
365 pages
YA Paranormal

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

After enjoying Juliet Immortal last year, I was pleased to discover this sequel especially since I found Romeo quite reprehensible in that outing. How would Jay strengthen his character to make him palatable as the center of attention?

Well, Jay gave him a chance at redemption. In an alternate world, he is returned by the mercy of an Ambassador to once again woo Ariel who is in full possession of her body this time; Juliet is not there this time. She had worked with Juliet previously but is willing to give Romeo's wretched soul a chance to win Ariel over to the cause of light and protect the world from the devastation she could unleash if the evil Mercenaries won her to their cause. However in the three days Romeo has to accomplish this, he learns more about the two sides and how they are maybe not as dissimilar as they would claim. He also remembers what being in love can be like while Ariel grows leaps and bounds in confidence and in her willingness to be vulnerable, which I think is a key aspect to being in love.

Although I'm not usually into goopy love stories, this one mostly won me over. Seeing Ariel and Romeo's inner thoughts where they were nervous and feeling so much charmed me. Yeah, there was a lot of thinking about the other's appearance and the kissing scenes weren't entirely my cup of tea. But I rooted for those two crazy kids.

However I still am not entirely sure I "get" the Ambassadors and Mercenaries nor do I understand the many alternative worlds that are posited in this book-they would have to be innumerable. I'm also not super thrilled with the setting of the conclusion. I don't want to spoil anything so highlight to read: why do they have to live back then? Who would choose that time of disease over contemporary America? Her world > his world.

But overall this was a fun adventure and one you'll definitely want to check out if you enjoyed the first book (you should read that one first).

Cover: Love the blues and I actually really like this cover. It's not my usual (why are they making out in the surf?) but I find it very striking.
 

Juliet Immortal

Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay
Delacorte Press, 2011
306 pages
YA; Paranormal
4/5 stars

Source: Received a free ARC through Amazon's Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

Did you have to read Romeo and Juliet in high school or college? Well I did and this book is here to say that it was false. While there was a great love story, Romeo betrayed Juliet and stabbed her in his zeal for immortality, leaving her to die forsaken on the cold stone floor. However just as Romeo lives sustained by magical forces, so does Juliet, battling him throughout the centuries. He needs to convince one soulmate to kill the other and give strength to his cause while Juliet must convince them to fully trust each other and thereby thwart Romeo.  But this time, it's different...

Normally both Romeo and Juliet possess considerable powers when they take over a new body to complete a task but this time they are weaker than usual. Additionally their watchers don't seem to be in town, leaving them alone to do battle.  Juliet takes over the body of Ariel, a girl literally and figuratively scarred by her mother while Romeo takes over Dylan's body, a body who was going to sleep with Ariel for a bet.  As Juliet flees Romeo/Dylan, she jumps into the car of Ben and starts to fall for him.  The next day she begins to look for the soulmates she has been sent to help and is horrified to discover that they are Ben and Ariel's mean best friend Gemma.  How is she supposed to get them to fall truly in love AND protect them from Romeo when she feels that Gemma is undeserving of Ben and that she, Juliet, would be a much better match? This might sound confusing but this aspect made perfect sense to me as I read.

Needless to say, there is a lot talk about love in this book. What is love and how do you act when you are in love?  I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of people in high school finding their forever "soulmate" despite the pervasiveness of that idea in YA lit.  But it does connect back to Romeo and Juliet as told by Shakespeare where I believe they're 16 and 13 respectively.  Anyway there's a lot of talk about what love is and isn't and I liked that.

What I didn't like was that Ben had little presence. I understood that Juliet liked him because she talked about it a lot but Ben didn't make an impression on me. If I'm going to root for a romance, I need to be able to feel for both parties and this book failed in that respect.

I was also a little confused by the rules governing the paranormal elements of Romeo and Juliet throughout time. Some explanations are provided (some not soon enough for my taste) but it was a little confusing and I'm still not sure I completely understand. There are also a couple of chapters narrated by Romeo, denoted by a different font, and most of them were really good, drawing me into his state of mind. I did not like his conclusion though.  However I loved the ending for Juliet's narration and its little twist on Shakespeare.